I’m not sure if I’m just a planning nerd or if it’s just my Chinese consumerist ways, but I decided that I wanted to check out the new Walmart Supercentre in Stouffville on a Friday night.

As you may be aware, Walmart recently opened three Supercentre locations in Ancaster, London, and Stouffville. They call them “Supercentres” because not only do they have the regular selections that you would expect from a Walmart, but they have an in-store grocery store.

Though many of the “smaller” format Walmarts (irony?) already stock some grocery items— mostly preserved goods, these Supercentre stores carry everything from produce, meats, deli, bakery. I have seen these Supercentres in many areas when travelling to the US, many of which are often pretty dingy looking. For that reason, I was curious to check out how the Canadian adaptation is compared to the American counterparts.

So after a half-hour drive from Markham, I arrived at the store, which was surrounded by undeveloped land. I guess that doesn’t come as any surprise; it’s the Walmart way. Find the cheapest land available, and change the urban landscape forever.

Anyways, I can start to see a ring-road retail road structure, and I definitely expect to see other retail pads to be built in the site in the future. Once inside, your first reation is ‘Whoa’. Serioysly, there’s nothing to say but ‘whoa’. It’s that big.

The main store arterials are exceptionally wide, and really diminishes that feeling of product claustrophobia that I often get when shopping at the its “nanostores”.

The store colour palette in the interior and exterior is very different than the other Walmarts. The store walls are not grey with the infamous red and navy stripes, it has a much more confortable tan colour. The floor tiles similarly are a darker tan colour. The store signage materials are an improvement; there’s a bit more colour other than the large black-text on-white-back price signs.

It is my assumption that all the “smaller” stores will also reflect this new colour palette. The new Fairview Park store in Kitchener recently underwent renovations and looks similar to this.

So, how was the experience? Wonderful. You can’t stop but say “whoa, it’s huge!” It’s definitely your one-stop shop for everything that you can possibly need. It was very spacious, and not a bit crowded. Mind you that I was shopping at 11pm in the evening.

So, how was the service? Exceptional. Perhaps it’s because the employees are new, and haven’t encoutered any real craziness like the other stores. I don’t expect the store to get that “crazy”, since the store is seriously in the middle of nowhere.

So, how was the prices? Pretty cheap. The general merchandise stuff is the same as the other stores. But the grocery items are undeniably cheap. Perhaps even cheaper than No Frills.

So, the bottom line, would you go there again? No. The experience is great, but seriously, it took me a half-hour to get there. Sure, it’s convenient to have all you need to buy under one roof and one bill, but what is the overall benefit? Wouldn’t the 30-minute drive to Stouffville actually exceed the time if I were just to go to Markville and head to Loblaws afterwards? Definitely.

Would my decision change when the Scarborough location is built? Maybe. But at the same time, it looks like the competition is fierce. Today, I realized that a Real Canadian Superstore is expected to open in the periphery retail pads at Scarborough Town Centre.

At this time, Wal-Mart has plans to open up to 14 new Supercentres in 2007.

Walmart Canada - [walmart.ca]
Walmart Canada - [wikipedia.org]
Real Canadian Superstore - [superstore.ca]
Real Canadian Superstore - [wikipedia.org]